Hi folks.
my larch has finally lost all its leaves, will I be safe now to go in and do some minor branch pruning?
Just want to remove some of the ugly branches while they are easily accessible.
Thank you in advance for your help.

One reason to do it in spring at budswelling, then you can see if branches have died back because of frost or a other reason.

It is the wrong time of year to be pruning.

m5eaygeoff wrote:

It is the wrong time of year to be pruning.

Im very confused now because ive seen many posts and videos saying you can prune in the winter?

I guess it depends on the variety of tree?

The absolute best time for pruning is the day before leaves begin to pop out. It is hard to know when this day is; it is easy to find out you are one day late.

The reason this is best is because right at this time the tree is starting to boost its growing systems, so any cuts will heal a little faster. Also, the tree is about to start generating energy chemicals from the sunlight, now that it has leaves, and it won't mind losing some energy stored in branches and roots.

For those of us with lots of trees, it is just too hard to hit this day exactly, so we do tend to do some work during the winter.

Best advice: learn plant physiology, learn the conventional, recommended ways of doing things, then vary them when you feel real good about the reasons.

So crossing or poorly formed branches can be removed to promote a more regular structure.

I prune and wire all my trees all through fall. Larch I also wire and prune mid-winter. As long as you do not get -20C it is no problem.

Go ahead and prune.